Music News: Airwaves Album Flood Begins, Icelander Wins Industry Award, Sónar First Lineup

A host of Icelandic bands have announced new releases around the Airwaves festival. The long-dormant Benny Crespo’s Gang have announced a new self-released album, “Minor Mistakes,” available to pre-order now on their website. Árstíðir, who released an album earlier this year, will put out a second in early November. “Garðurinn Minn” is a collaboration with the band’s “songwriting hero Magnús Þór Sigmundsson,” and they successfully crowdfunded the release via the Karolína Fund. Rising Grapevine favourites aYia will release their self-titled debut via Bedroom Community on November 16th.

Well-known Icelandic music professional and former Grapevine Music Awards panellist Anna Hildur has won the Tampere Music Award in Finland, awarded annually “to acknowledge a person, organisation or movement that has contributed extraordinarily to the development of the music industry.” Anna has worked for 20 years in music, going from artist manager, to the head of the Iceland Music agency, to the head of NOMEX, a music industry initiative formed between the Nordic countries. Today, she is embarking on a new chapter as the founder of new Reykjavik and London based film and TV company Tattarrattat. Well done, Anna! Keep doing what you’re doing.

The Sónar Reykjavík festival is an annual breath—nay, lungful—of fresh air for Icelandic music lovers. Connecting the dots between the thriving local scene and the eclectic international royalty of the electronic music scene, it’s something to look forward to over the long winter. The first lineup announcement for 2019 is stuffed with great news. Between April 25th and 27th, Harpa will be pulsing with the sound of the pioneering Richie Hawtin, the widescreen techno of Jon Hopkins, UK rapper Little Simz, and a host of local talents including acronymic talents GDRN and JFDR, seasoned veteran DJ Margeir, spectral electronica trio aYia, and rising stars SiGRÚN and Sólveig Matthildur. Tickets are on sale now.